A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE RIGHT TO EDUCATION ACT, 2009: THROUGH THE PHILOSOPHICAL PARADIGMS OF JUSTICE

Abstract

It is a sad truth that in our society even the basic needs if defined as per Maslow’s hierarchy of needs are not satisfied. Education belongs to a higher pedestal though not specifically placed at any level in Maslow’s theory but may help in achieving the levels of ‘belonging’ and ‘esteem’. Think of the repercussions when one is denied this right to get education due to multiple factors like gender, caste, class, ethnicity, region, religion, physiological or mental constraints etc. Not only this reflects in form of unemployment or unending poverty cycles but ultimate depletion of human resources for overall development of the economy, social exclusion leading to conflict and crimes and in the interpretation of Aristotle , failure of attainments like goodness (of intellect and character) or happiness which ultimately helps in establishing a just society as individuals develop the power of judging and discriminating between right and wrong. How effectively the Right to Education has been realized in India needs to be evaluated by applying the lens of various theories of justice in the normative sense and pragmatical